1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention capture motion information regarding movement of a test subject. More specifically, embodiments of the invention capture motion information for a test subject in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Real time motion information capture may be used for various applications in an MRI environment. For example, head motion of a patient during an MRI brain scan may degrade image quality of the scan. Real time motion information capture may be used to correct any such head motion of the patient.
However, real time motion information capture in an MRI environment presents several distinct challenges. Because metal and electronic objects may interfere with the magnetic field of an MRI unit, electronic video equipment (such as video cameras) must be mounted far away from a patient in the MRI environment. Tracking objects may also be placed on a patient's body to aid video capture. Because video cameras must be mounted far away from a patient in the MRI environment, the captured footage may be of insufficient resolution to accurately determine patient motion. Further, video-based approaches require extensive computation (e.g., a large amount of video processing) to determine patient motion.
An alternative to video-based approaches is post-processing approaches. That is, patient motion may be corrected during post-processing of image data. However, post-processing approaches may not take into account any measurements of patient motion. Further, post-processing approaches may only correct certain types of motion, such as translational motion.